Washington, Sep 12 : The United States has assured Pakistani officials that it will not to launch strikes against Taliban militants operating from Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington Husain Haqqani spent part of his day at the White House meeting National Security and the rest on Capitol Hill trying to assure US lawmakers that his country remained a key partner in this war.

“It is our understanding that the kind of authorisation for US military actions in Pakistan (that The New York Times reported) has not been given,” said Mr Haqqani after his talks with officials at the White House.

Houston/Washington - National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters issued ominous and unusually blunt warnings about the storm surge heading for the Texas coast Friday ahead of Hurricane Ike.

The local statement issued by NWS for Houston and nearby Galveston, Texas, with Ike threatening a direct hit, warned of storm surge on the Galveston Bay shoreline of more than 6 metres with "life threatening inundation likely!"

Waves atop the storm surge could push water several metres higher still.

San Francisco - A wi

Washington - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Thursday said she was confident that she could take over the presidency if called upon, in her first interview since accepting the nomination to run as vice president with Republican nominee John McCain.

Palin, governor since 2006, was little-known nationally until she was named two weeks ago as McCain's running mate. She has faced questions from Democrats about whether she has the experience - especially in foreign policy - to be vice president to the 72-year- old McCain.

Havana - Hurricane-hit Cuba on Thursday accused the United States of lying about its conditional offers to help the communist country as it struggles to recover and rebuild.

"The United States government is behaving cynically. It tries to suggest that it is desperate to cooperate with Cuba, and that we refuse. They lie unscrupulously," the Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike have wreaked havoc in Cuba, displacing more than a million people and destroying tens of thousands of homes. The Cuban government was still to estimate the extent of the damage.

New York - Wall Street stock indices rose Thursday as transportation firms were helped by falling oil prices, and banking shares staged a late-day rally on takeover speculation about embattled Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

US railroad company CSX Corp surged more than 10 per cent as crude oil for October delivery fell another 1.68 dollars to 100.90 dollars per barrel in New York.